


The Other Life (M!DB/Cicero)

by Nudebeme



Series: Chac and Cicero [16]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Adultery, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-09
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 04:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1591358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nudebeme/pseuds/Nudebeme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cicero discovers that his worst nightmare is in fact a reality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Other Life (M!DB/Cicero)

"Wha…What did you say?" Cicero gasped, feeling an impossible cold fall deep into his chest. He was holding a doll in his hand, found by sneaking about in the mer’s pack when he was feeling curious.

"I have a daughter…and a son. They live here in Skyrim." Chac couldn’t hold it back anymore, he’d been caught far too many times with gifts for his children, too many times found writing to  _someone_  in the night, tears in his elven eyes. 

"Wh.." Cicero looked completely bewildered, shock as plain as day on his face. Somewhere in the back of his mind, where there still lay a scrap of his sanity, he laughed. But no smile came to his face as he stared through the elf.

"My son is 12, and my daughter is 3." He’d kept it hidden from the Dark Brotherhood for all these years, but it had to come out sooner or later.. He couldn’t hide them forever. 

"Who’s..their mother?" Please, Sithis take pity on him. Cicero felt himself swooning, the corners of his vision flickering as he stared past the elf. He started to sway on his feet, and the elf stood to attention. He didn’t know how Cicero would take it, he tried to tell him in the most gentle way possible…

"I’m married." Chac gulped, seeing the corner of the madman’s eye twitch. "To a man who I love, very dearly." 

Cicero doesn’t remember just when, but the light soon left his eyes as he collapsed to the ground in a heap, the elf bolting up from his chair and catching him before his head could hit the stone. Mara save him, he knew Cicero wouldn’t be okay with this..not after the lovey words they spoke last night in a heated mess. Listener was so kind, and he gave and gave and Cicero gladly took and loved it all.

But to know he wasn’t the only one, unspecial, broke him. The elf cradled his petite body and carried him hastily to the bed, words and anxieties flashing through his mind like mad about what he would say when Cicero woke. His body lay limp and Chac held his head against his arm.

each second is going to count. If Cicero couldn’t handle Chac’s confession, there would be unbelievable hell. It stewed in the elf’s mind as he placed a kiss to his unconscious lover’s cheek. He’s so very sorry.

Cicero's chest rose and fell in a hypnotic way, putting Chac into a daze..It was strange how during all of the turmoil, he still would only notice such a thing. Cicero was out cold, laying in the elf's arms atop the bed and utterly limp. Chac felt a lump start in his throat and threaten to leave him speechless, how in Tamriel was he going to break this to him lightly? The mere mention of his family sent Cicero this far deep, it was going to take a miracle for Chac to find an excuse..an excuse of why he would hide his family away for so long. His obligations.

 

“Forgive me, sweet Cicero.” He sighs, thoughts racing through his head. He thought about the unfairness of it all in Cicero's life, how he'd taken another stab at his already wounded heart by lying..buy using him. The Imperial let out a soft snort, his head turning and eyes rolling behind their lids. He was waking up, and Chac didn't have a clue what to do. He'd just have to be honest..and hope that Cicero won't attempt to kill him for this treachery.

 

His eyes snapped open before Chac could think, and they stark into his own. Cicero looked up and all at once saw the elf so close, so damnably close. He remembered what those lips had said, and immediately the void creeped into his entire being. His arms are soon shaking, fingers cold and there isn't an inch of him that's not sweating. The elf spoke, softly.

 

“You passed out..” the elf's voice hummed in his own chest. The pain that hit him next, Cicero thought he'd never feel that kind of pain again. Isn't it funny though? His heart was foolish once again, that's why he's the Fool of Hearts, no? Cicero started to smirk, and that turned into a pitchy giggle “Hehehe..”

 

“Cicero, I need you to please understand.” He didn't like the way his eyes gleamed, his soft laughs turning into snickers of amusement. Cicero's been through this before..oh this was nothing new.. The memories returned to him, the joy he found in love with both the elf and those of his youth had always turned out this way...crooked. The Imperial's chest convulsed with laughter, his face pale and bereft of life.

 

“Cicero, listen to me.” Oh, the Listener want's him to listen? How hysterical, he got the joke right away. He couldn't stop the laughter, even if his heart only felt like dying. He hated the elf. He loved him, but hated him. Cicero focused on the hate, his sick mind went in tight circles around it.

 

Chac cradles the man tightly, feeling his body limp and unresponsive to his tender touches. The ginger's head lolled back, and he was close to shouting.

 

“OH I'll listen all you want, Listener!” He says, his mousy voice rough with emotion. Brown eyes rolled and wandered, refusing to see and his heart too pained to deny Chac. Cicero laughed again, and the elf cringed.

 

“Just because you know I'm married doesn't mean anything has to change..” Chac starts, Cicero had no choice but to listen and believe him. He was still dutiful, despite all that's happened. “I still love you, I really do. I love you terribly so.” Chac had to cradle the Keeper's head in the crook of his arm, and Cicero's giggles stopped only to listen. His mind was almost completely elsewhere...but he listened.

 

“Nothing has to change between you and I. We can still be the best of friends.”

 

“Why..did you do this?”

 

“I needed to keep them safe. You need to please understand _why_.” Chac pleaded, and damn him for being so convincing. Cicero heard the laughter go silent, and Chac's breath was the only thing he could concentrate on.

 

“...” Cicero thought hard about it, and didn't know any other way but to accept it. “Cicero doesn't have a choice, does he? I _believe_ you.” Sithis.. was he really that bad? Was poor Cicero this far gone to need to be sequestered away like some kind of animal? His dutiful heart had no choice but to accept it.

 

“No, you have a choice.”

 

“I can't lose you,” Cicero gasps, of course he had no choice. He didn't want to lose his only friend, his lover... The fact resounded in his head that the Listener was married and in love with another. No amount of laughter could fix this..not now.. Cicero's eyes flooded with tears and his face went hot.

 

“I can't!”

 

“No one's going to lose anything, I'm still here with you. I'll be here with you, Cicero.” Gods he hated seeing the sick man cry, but it was not a sight he was unfamiliar with. Hugging the limp Imperial tight to his own body, he hushed away every tear that the heartbroken man shed.

 

He was so sick of crying. He'd shed more tears than any man should have, it was hilarious how unfair life seemed right now. Cicero's entire body is consumed by tears, feeling pathetic in the Listener's arms once again. He has no choice but to be second in the Listener's life..it felt nice thinking otherwise for so long... but all good things must end, right?

 

His voice was wrecked by fits of sobs, laying his cheek against the Listener's collar and wetting it with tears. Chac knew that the Imperial would be inconsolable for a time, this was something he could not change.. “Listener,” He gulps, finally finding the strength to lift his fingers up to his cheek, wiping away wetness with the back of his hand. “Guh..”

 

“Tell me what you want.” He'd do anything. Gods, anything to make Cicero stop crying. It was tearing at his heart to see such a thing, like watching the tears of his own child.

 

“Water.” Cicero felt himself be laid down onto the bed, Bosmeri fingers cradling the back of his head until it fell onto the pillow. He lay there and sniffled, his cheeks and eyes red from effort. His heart still hurt immensely, and seeing the elf's face once again as he brought him a pitcher of water made him shed only more tears.

 

“Drink, careful.” He held the pitcher, watching the weakened Imperial drink from it until it trailed in rivulets down his throat. He drank until his fill, and let his head land against the pillow with a noted defeat. Chac didn't mind the smudges of kohl down his cheeks, or the snot he wiped away with his arm. None of that mattered right now.

 

“What else do you need? I'll make it happen.” Cicero didn't shy away from his touch when the elf pulled red hair away from his face. Sniffling and shaking, all Cicero could think about right now was that at least for now, Listener still loved him.. he could see it in the way Chac looked so guilty.

 

“You're not going to leave Cicero behind..right?”

 

“Never.” the tears came to a crawling stop, and Cicero lay prone on the bed while the elf crawled his way in. Warmth was suddenly all around him, the tearful Imperial wrapped in his arms once again with a swift kiss on his hot forehead.

 

“That's all that I can ask you for..” Cicero closed his eyes, and allowed himself to rest his head on Chac's chest. Sleep always threatened him after a tearful spell, and Chac had nowhere to be. Holding his mad lover close, Chac realizes that now he'll have to be more careful than ever when it comes to Cicero's heart.

 


End file.
